1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating an oxide superconducting film, and more particularly, it relates to a method of fabricating an oxide superconducting film using laser deposition.
2. Description of the Background Art
In order to prepare an available conductor material from an oxide superconductive material, an oxide superconducting film may be formed on a base material. While various methods have been proposed for forming such oxide superconducting films on base materials, high critical density values are obtained with respect to the oxide superconducting films by vapor phase methods such as sputtering, vacuum deposition, deposition using a laser, CVD, and the like. Within these methods, the deposition using a laser, i.e., laser deposition is particularly suitable for fabrication of an oxide superconducting film having high critical current density, because of a high speed of film formation and capability of film formation in a high-pressure atmosphere.
In relation to such laser deposition, further, an excimer laser is particularly advantageously employable for fabricating an oxide superconducting film, which exhibits excellent superconducting properties. In fact, oxide superconducting films having high critical current density have been successfully formed using the excimer laser.
In a conventional method of forming an oxide superconducting film using an excimer laser, the laser beam has been applied through a spherical lens to form a spot on a target. In other words, only an extremely limited region of the target has been irradiated with the laser beam. Consequently, deposition particles are scattered from the target only in a limited range, to restrict the area of the oxide superconducting film homogeneously formed on a base material, which is opposed to the target, not only in film thickness but also in property.